In yet another blow to our sense of self-control (to say nothing of our waistlines), it now appears that overweight waiters may inspire people to eat and drink more.

That’s the latest finding from Cornell University’s Food and Brand Lab, which over the years has produced an array of discoveries about the unconscious factors that influence eating.Lab Director Brian Wansink has gained renown for showing that he can manipulate how much people eat by varying lighting, music, the colors and arrangement of jelly beans and the size of one’s fellow diners. In one famous experiment, Dr. Wansink and colleagues fed people soup. But some bowls were rigged up to subtly refill themselves from a large unseen reservoir. “Despite consuming 73% more,” the scientists wrote of the subjects with the refilling bowls, “they did not believe they had consumed more, nor did they perceive themselves as more sated than those eating from normal bowls.”

“If you have a heavy server,” says Mr. Döring, “you order more.” Diners with servers with an over 25 BMI (Body Mass Index) – and thus considered “overweight” – were four times likelier to order dessert and ordered 17% more alcoholic beverages. The disparity in ordering was particularly pronounced when diners below the BMI threshold of 25 had a server who was at or over the threshold. Or as Mr. Döring put it, “A heavy waiter or waitress seems to have an even bigger influence on the skinniest diners.”

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There is an old joke in the restaurant business – “What’s the difference between a Canadian and a Canoe?..Answer: “A Canoe tips!”.

Apparently some restaurants in Burlington Vermont got so frustrated with French Canadian tourist not tipping that they empowered their wait-staff to add an 18% gratuity to the bill. The link below is to the article that sparked articles and editorials around the world.

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An “all you can eat” French Fry bar, which are fried in pure lard, capped by a 8000 calories burger, where even the bun is cooked in lard, no diet drinks – could this be the most politically incorrect restaurant in the world. Click on the link below for more.

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Something else to be paranoid about if you are germaphobic. This time it is the lowly lemon in your drink. It helps if you don’t drop the squeezed lemon into your drink. Thanks to Juan Marcos for ruining my next iced tea.

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World’s Most Romantic Restaurants in Romantic on Concierge.com Our 12 restaurant picks from around the world have all the right elements—a seductive view, an unhurried atmosphere, terrific food—but never veer into sentimentality. Because style mixed with subtlety is a more potent aphrodisiac than straight saccharine. Picture of Sugar Mill Hotel in Tortola, British Virgin Islands.